Is airbnb.com.au Legit?

Airbnb nightmare in Suffolk Park NSW

Honestly, this was our worst airbnb experience in Australia and sadly we have had many since coming back to Aus. We had wonderful experiences with airbnb in Canada and Europe but it's a completely different ball game here in Australia. It's as if they can do whatever they want and they get away with it. Highway robbery … taking your money when you lost a booking due to their fault, dirty places, rude hosts, a/c doesn't work, cockroaches running around, no privacy like in the pictures, etc. I will quickly share the worst experience now and I will preface this with we will never ever use airbnb ever again. We made an expensive 2,797 booking as a special treat for our family in Suffolk park NSW and then couldn't travel there from Queensland because at that time the host area was in full lockdown so it was because of the HOSTs lockdown area NOT our area. Any reasonable host would offer the booking at another time or a refund. Not this host, she had the cheek to tell us how inconvenient it was for her to pack up her house and get it ready when we could no longer come, that we would need to book 3 additional nights if we wanted alternative dates and then she refused a refund request. She (and airbnb) kept all our money (every penny) and we didn't even get to stay there 1 night. What did airbnb do when we complained, nothing … absolutely nothing like always. All they care about is money. It's stealing money from guests who have paid for a booking that they don't get to use and illegal to keep money when a person has not received what they have paid for. Tip for consumers:Don’t ever use airbnb Products used:None, we lost a full booking and all our money and the the host was at fault (and airbnb) as it was her area of travel restrictions not ours. Service Value Returns

Policies are selectively enforced and they have no regard for people's privacy

It makes me nervous that Airbnb has little to no concern about their hosts and guests' safety. Airbnb's business model rests on the idea that strangers can trust one another. Like most unscrupulous US companies, Airbnb thrives on a growth-at-all-costs philosophy - move around cities, don't follow the rules, win the popular vote, and earn money. Normally, by the time officials start realising what's going on, it is too late. As a result of their continuous negligence, legal battles have been raging around the world, the most toxic of which played out in New York in 2015. The city conducted covert 30-day operations into the illegal rentals managed on Airbnb, sparking years of legal fighting. In retaliation, Airbnb hired private investigators to scrutinise the profiles of its critics, and paid to expose their lives with offensive TV and billboard ads. Most European authorities are now realising the risks and taking action against Airbnb. One of the cases reported in Spanish news is that of an Airbnb host in Barcelona who raped two American women who had booked his shared accommodation. According to local media, when the women threatened to file a police report the next morning, their nightmare-of-a-host threatened to upload videos of the attack on the internet. Police eventually searched his apartment and found hundreds of similar photos of other victims. The man was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Airbnb, which declined to comment on the case, paid the two women an undisclosed amount and banned the "host" for life. Unfortunately, the only thing that really motivates Airbnb is the threat… of bad PR or a nightmare in the press. Money at all-costs is their ultimate motivation. Airbnb has no regard for local laws. For example, in Thailand, Airbnb allows hosts to publish their properties on their platform despite knowing that it is illegal for unlicensed operators (private hosts) to host short-term rentals. Although their review policy states that, and I quote, "Content that endorses or promotes illegal or harmful activity, OR that is profane, vulgar, obscene, threatening, or harassing", Airbnb's claim is that the following review does not breach their own policy: "XX and XX are my worst guests ever. They are racist, selfish, dirty and really mean. They left the apartment without my checked. They even not locked the doors. They did not wash the dishes, still have rice and dirty things. The toilet is dirty with theirs s***. The trash bin is full of garbage." On top of breaching their own policy, this review is also false, defamatory and completely misleading. The ACCC has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against Airbnb, Inc. and Airbnb Ireland UC (together, Airbnb) for allegedly misleading consumers into believing prices for Australian accommodation were in Australian dollars, when in fact for many consumers prices were in US dollars. The ACCC alleges that, between at least January 2018 and August 2021, Airbnb made false or misleading representations to thousands of Australian consumers by displaying prices on its website or mobile app for Australian accommodation using only a dollar sign ($), without making it clear that those prices were in US dollars. While on at least some occasions Airbnb referred to the price as 'USD' in small font on the last page of the booking process, this happened only after the platform had already displayed numerous dollar ('$') amounts on earlier pages, without nearby reference to US dollars, and after the consumer had clicked to 'reserve' their accommodation. When thousands of consumers complained to Airbnb about being charged more than the displayed price, the ACCC alleges that Airbnb engaged in further misleading or deceptive conduct by telling many of them that it had displayed prices in US dollars because the user had selected this currency, when this was often not the case. Tip for consumers:Avoid this company like the plague. If you have the bad idea of booking with them, please read their cancellation policies very carefully so that you avoid being defrauded by unscrupulous players.

Airbnb reneges on booking agreement

We booked '2 bdrm apartment - 6 kilometres from city'. That's in Watson, ACT, Canberra. We asked for a discount on the $932 for 7 days as its 2 bedrooms and we only need one. They accepted this but the offer came back as $897 so I asked for a breakdown and I know Airbnb also adds their 8% fee. Then they offered $725 + the Airbnb fee which came to $812. The offer was to last until 9.58am on 8 April. However, the site would not allow me to book tonight and they claim someone else has booked the place. This is completely outside Airbnb's policy and shows a total disrespect for Airbnb clients and especially clients like us with a really good reputation. This is in stark contrast to other sites like Booking.com for example who always honour their booking agreements and provide certainty for their clients.